Scottish Independence Result: 11 People Who Nearly Lost Us Scotland

Two Scottish independence referendum Yes supporters hold a Scottish Saltire flag up outside the "Better Together" No campaign offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, Monday, Sept. 15, 2014. If Scottish voters this week say Yes to independence, not only will they tear up the map of Great Britain, they'll shake the twin pillars of Western Europe's postwar prosperity and security â the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO defense alliance. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Scots may have voted no in the independence referendum but it was hardly a textbook campaign from the Better Together team, with the poll much closer than anyone anticipated when the historic vote was called in 2011.

While ultimately successful, leader of the no camp, Alistair Darling, faced repeated calls to step aside while David Cameron was criticised for doing too little too late in the campaign, raising questions over whether he would stay as prime minister after the vote.

But Darling and Cameron would hardly have been the only people to blame had Scotland slipped away...